On the 16th of May Kenny Dalglish was sacked from the club he loves by its American owners, was this the right decision? Back in August last year Liverpool’s owner John W Henry said that if Liverpool did not qualify for the Champions League it would be a “major disappointment”. The problem for Dalglish is that his team’s points tally was closer to the relegation zone than to those Champions League spaces.
So in this respect it sounds like the owners made the right decision after giving Dalglish over 100 million to spend on new players. However it is not as simple as that. Liverpool were certainly poor in the league but Dalglish ended their six year trophy drought and took Liverpool to the new Wembley for the first time, not just once but three times in a season. Factor in that the teams football had improved substantially since Dalglish had took over, and of course the fact that the man they call “King Kenny” is and always will be a legend at the club, then there maybe was enough reason to give him another year.
The problem Dalglish had was that the owners never really had visions of him being the long term solution. Ever since the Fenway Sports Group took over Liverpool they had interest in younger managers, with Porto manager at the time Andre Villas Boas linked to the club. Dalglish was brought in to steady the ship after Roy Hodgson had been sacked halfway through the 2010/2011 season. However Liverpool’s performance levels increased and they finished the season very strongly also with the fans being united in admiration for the manager for the first time in many years; the owners had no option but to give Dalglish a three year contract.
Then Dalglish was given over 100 million to spend on new players and everything was looking rosy for the reds in the summer. However it was to unravel quickly. The first game of the season was a sign of things to come. A 1-1 draw at home with Sunderland in which Liverpool missed a penalty and hit the woodwork. Liverpool fans would get accustomed to seeing their team do both of those things as the season wore on. Then in October Dalglish had to handle something massive outside of football, a racism row. Manchester United’s captain Patrice Evra accused Liverpool’s Luis Suarez or racially abusing him. Over the coming weeks Dalglish defended his star striker adamantly, but to no avail as Suarez was given an 8 game ban.
The owners watching from across the Atlantic were apparently not impressed with the way Dalglish handled the issue. Ever since the racism row Dalglish became more and more hostile in interviews and a lot of the time it made uncomfortable viewing. His team’s performance significantly dipped in the league since Christmas, even winning the Carling Cup could not kick his team on in the league. They went on to finish 8th below their closest rivals Everton but did come close to winning a domestic double after losing 2-1 to Chelsea in the FA Cup final.
The success in the cups was clearly not enough for the owners who wanted Champions League football so desperately for financial reasons. I do believe though that Dalglish deserved time, his team reached two cup finals beating big teams on the way showing some good performances. It gave Liverpool a platform to continue this good work into the league next season. With a new manager the owners risk stalling the club for another year as the man they bring in will have to get his new ideas across to the players and mould the squad to what he wants.
Not only have the owners risked the teams progress they risk losing the support of the fans. The names mentioned like Roberto Martinez and Brendan Rodgers will not please the majority of supporters and if things go wrong it is the owners who will be blamed.
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You bet! All of last season Dalglish simply revealed to the world how clueless, outdated and out-of-sync he truly was. It came as no surprise that he broke every record book in the Liverpool annals for all the wrong reasons.
load of crap jack , more shots on target than teams above us , hit the wood work 32 times , made 2 cup finals and qualified for europe , how is that being out of sinc , shows me we were playing attacking football but without the final result , i cant get my head around how it is kennys fault that players hit the wood work arent clinical enough in front of goal , its kennys fault his supposed world class keeper has a shocking year and should save near post shots , i cant count the games i watched us dominate teams and not get the results we deserved and how the hell is that kennys fault ,the players have to take the blame just as much as the manager , i would of put my house on it if kenny had stayed we would of ironed out the mistakes made this year and made a good top 4 challenge next year , all i can see know is a new manager coming in with high expectations and if he fails hell be gone ,then so will more of our top class players we have left ie suarez , i seriously cant belive what is happening to our club and belive me it aint kennys fault its delves alot deeper than that and way before kenny was even manager ynwa
load of crap mark! Dalglish was an accident waiting to happen – he should never have been taken on in the first place!
The success LFC had when KK took over from Fagan was actually attributable to Bob Paisley who sat with KK for three years,before he took over proper!!! after which LFC started to nosedive,(players getting older etc:)When he resigned he left an aging team behind!
I like Dalglish, but to be honest he gave the owners very little choice, he got everything wrong this season even the Carling cup victory was not a convincing one we, just about scrapped through, Its very easy for everyone to talk about the owners and how ruthlessly they sacked Kenny but its because only they can feel the pinch of 120ml of their money being blown up by Kenny .
Yes,anyone else would have gone earlier, shame though the guy is legend.
Should have never been appointed, in the first place.
He also left us with a major problem, in trying to re-sell his flop signings!!!.
I agree he should never have got the job but having got it he should have been given at least another season, while he says he O.K.d the signings I am not sure he had much option and in anycase they are not all bad, Carrol and Henderson where overpriced but worth keeping, the rest you got what you paid for. The main problem as I see it is this…If you sack a club hero after one season then only someone desperate is going to take the job on. (Are Fenway looking for a one year contract?)
Wrong decision. But what do Yanks know about football. Some great football under KK, matched only by Spurs. The only thing that did not come right was results, but they would have come. FSG should have let KK stay to the end of his contract. Can’t imagine anyone other than Pep getting the team play exciting football, but Pep needs a rest.
Appoint Barnes. He got Celtic playing their best football ever.
What a joke – both Dalglish & Barnes were dumped by Celtic for their failures!
Question ? who could really fail at Celtic!Those two! Both fantastic players but should never have been left alone in a football managers office!
Spot on Dave!.
who could fail at celtic well kenny never he left when martin o’neil took over as manager kenny was dir.ov footy so dave from west aus go back and watch your betamax vids ov celtic! cos if you know your history its enough to make you bum a kanagroo again
You talk ‘CRAP’; By the way ; keep your filthy comments to yourself!
Rafa’s legacy was a huge wage bill, continual infighting and a proven ability to lose to the minnows.
Kenny at least goes out as a winner. He restored alot of dignity to the kop, and he is back in Europe.
To recruit top players again, LFC need some Karma again and fresh blood. Gaston Ramirez, Bojan et al would be nice. But ultimately an energetic communicator will help alot.
With EUFA fair play coming in, the club would have only benefited from the 40m+ pounds that would have been gained by finishing in a Champions League position which, for the owners as well as Liverpool’s fans, is clearly a priority (given the amount of money Dalglish had to spend on players). Henry is notorious for acting off the back of results and clearly wanted Champions League football. Therefore, Dalglish’s sacking is less of a surprise. However, watching Liverpool, it is clear to everyone they play good football. Due to this, I believe Dalglish would have been given more time as the future looked bright-it was the Suarez T-Shirts, the ignorance towards the media and the damaged reputation of Liverpool Football Club that would leave many owners feeling they need a change of manager, not just Liverpool.
PLEASE NO TO…..
Roberto Martinez
Rafa Benitez
Brendan Rodgers
Fabio Capello
Andre Villas-Boas
Pep Guardiola
Didier Deschamps
Jurgen Klopp
Michael Laudrup
FRANK RIJKAARD as Manager and LUIS VAN GAAL as Director Of Football.
If liverpool appoint middle class manager, only middle class player will join liverpool.
BUT if liverpool appoint SUPERP manager, sure all the SUPERP and fantastic players will join liverpool.
Before this, liverpool already try managers from:
FRANCE (Gerard Houllier).
SPAIN: (Rafa Benitez).
ENGLANG: (Roy Hodgson).
SCOTLAND: Kenny Dalglish.
So now go for Holland Management… because Holland always got talen, that is Frank Rijkaard who bring Barcelona to the Top & also Luis Van Gaal that win 2 La Liga title in 3 season with Barcelona.
Both also like to play Attacking Game. So i hope liverpool will appoint FRANK RIJKAARD as Manager and LUIS VAN GAAL as Director Of Football.
And Give Them Money To SIGN:
Higuain (Striker)
Ibrahim Affaley (Right Winger)
Eden Hazard (Playmaker)
Kagawa (Left Winger)
Lucas Biglia (Defensive Midfielder)